Grand County has voted repeatedly to approve our nonpartisan seven-member council form of government over the past 25 years. Now the state legislature, working with local Republicans, has taken that choice away from us. As things stand now after HB 224 was passed by the Utah Legislature, Grand County’s voters will be faced with voting on a new form of government where none of the choices will be the current form of government – which is nonpartisan and has term limits. I stand by the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Who had the discussion that it is now broken? With all the shenanigans going on in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C., I really appreciate our nonpartisanship style of running the county.
Curtis Wells, a current at-large member of the Grand County Council is also a board member of the Utah Association of Counties. UAC, which was closely involved in the drafting of HB 224, is supposed to look out for Grand County’s interests at the State Legislature. However, Councilman Wells failed to appropriately notify the council or Grand County citizens that this bill would outlaw our current seven-member nonpartisan form of government. What’s up with that? Sounds like the fox guarding the henhouse.
